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While the rest of the world watched in anticipation of Apple's quarterly earnings announcement, Wolfram Alpha quietly introduced their new iPhone application into the App Store on Monday.

As the "official" application for Wolfram Alpha, an answer engine from Wolfram Research, users will have no choice but to pay up for this high-brow app, as it was introduced with a $50 price tag.

Why fifty bucks? Ian Paul at PC World tried to take a stab at this one.

One of the app's main advantages is as a replacement for graphing calculators, which can cost upward of $100; however, it should be noted that regular graphing calculators don't need a Wi-Fi connection to work.

Despite offering a multitude of neat functions - graphing calculator, calorie counter, international economic index, astronomy guide, etc. - its difficult to imagine this app achieving any degree of notable success at such a lofty price. The app, after all, is simply a compressed, portable, carbon-copy of the website, which is accessible as a Firefox add-on.

Let's not forget, however, that Wolfram Alpha was initially hyped up to be the "next Google," even though those behind the search engine never shared those hopes or intentions. But even Google wouldn't have the audacity to introduce a $50 app.

If you type "graphing calculator" into iTunes you get results for 27 iPhone apps, ranging in price from zero to $10.

Sad but true, the Wolfram Alpha iPhone is getting more attention today for its cost than it is anything else, although Ian Paul also managed to note that Apple gave the app an age-restricted rating of 9+ due to "infrequent/mild profanity or cruel humor."

Well, if we're going to cough up fifty bucks for this app, there should at least be some entertainment value, right?